It's....Hard to believe beautiful pottery and fine china was made here in mucky Hanely along with the other towns which made up Stoke on Trent... My city was the same with the silver and steel trade. I remember the constant smoke, soot fell like rain. It all stopped with the clean air act in 1965

Chris Oldhams' photos of Stoke-on-Trent

Josiah Spode 1. 1733 - 1797. Born in Stoke on Trent. English potter. He was a pauper's son, apprenticed to Thomas Whieldon in 1749. In 1754 Wedgwood became a business partner with Whieldon and Josiah Spode worked alongside with Wedgwood. In 1767 he rented a factory in Church St, Stoke. In 1776 he bought the old pottery works on the same site as the later Spode factory. Josiah Spode the Elder also between 1778-1783 established and finalised the formula for English Bone China.

Gladstone Pottery Works, Stoke-on-Trent, England. The Gladstone Pottery Museum is a working museum of a medium sized pottery, typical of those once common in the North Staffordshire area of England from the time of the industrial revolution in the 18th century to the mid 20th century